The musings of an ordinary sort of God-bothering curate and educator from Yorkshire, God's own country.
Sometimes I think I am in a parallel universe as I ponder why some Christians seem so wilfully theologically illiterate.

"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." Philippians 4.19

"Work out your salvation with fear and trembling." Philippians 2.12

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Approaches to Mission Part 2: The Apostolic and Hellenistic Orthodox Paradigms

This post is
based on Stephen Spencer's studyguide Christian
Mission. It might make more sense if you have already read the previous
introductory post.

The Apostolic Mission

In the
earliest days of Christianity converts were primarily Jewish and had a worldview
dominated by eschatology, particularly the book of Daniel: they believed the
end of the age was near and would bring a time of catastrophe but there would
be deliverance for God’s people at this time. Many early Christians related
these ideas to the Roman occupation: the end was indeed nigh.

The
Christians came to associate Jesus as the figure described in Daniel, “I saw
one like a Son of Man coming with the clouds of Heaven.” (Daniel 7.13) The
death and resurrection of Jesus became, for them, the inauguration of the
end-times and they believed he would return in their lifetimes. Some of the
earliest New Testament writings (I Thes and 1 Cor) show this view clearly. The Parousia
was imminent.

This meant
that it was desperately important that as many people as possible were told
about the offer of salvation. It was imperative that people turn to the Lord,
put their lives in order, and be made ready for his coming: the church was the
ark of salvation. “Repent and be baptised” was the motif of the period.

Christian
mission was all about appealing to the hearts and minds of Jews and then of
Gentiles to bring about belief in Jesus and repentance before it was too late.
It was not about changing cultures or religious structures: time was too short.
It was a search and rescue operation.

We can see
how this approach is still the basis for mission and evangelism in many
conservative and evangelical churches today.

Hellenistic Orthodox Mission

The
non-return of Jesus in the expected time-frame precipitated a minor crisis for
the early church and some were questioning the church’s claims: First of all you must understand this, that
in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and indulging their own lusts and
saying, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? (2 Peter 3.3) So the church
had to rethink its eschatology at the same time as it was spreading into a
predominantly Greek speaking and thinking culture in Asia Minor and Greece.
Christians were influenced by that milieu which was a long way in so many
senses from the Palestinian Jewish culture with its emphasis on righteousness.

Christianity
became influenced by Neoplatonism: immortality is no longer seen as linked to
some future day of judgement but in the here and now, through learning and the
acquisition of knowledge. With its emphasis on the Eternal Being as an ever
present reality in the world, Neoplatonism can be detected in some later
passages of the New Testament. There is a shift away from future eschatology to
realized eschatology. John’s Gospel best illustrates this with its emphasis on
what Christ has already accomplished and what he offers here and now, Indeed, God did not send the Son into the
world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through
him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe
are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only
Son of God. (John 3.18-19) Very
truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has
eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to
life. Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the
dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. (John
5.24-25) Furthermore in one of the best known passages of the New Testament it
is the interior value of belief rather than the practice of righteousness that
is presented as the heart of Christian living and the gateway to eternal life: For God so loved the world that he gave his
only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
(John 3.16)

Some of the
church Fathers from this period (Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Clement of
Alexandria, Augustine of Hippo and Origen) interwove Neoplatonism with
Christianity. Justin Martyr develops the idea of the logos, who had sown the
seed of truth in all people and becomes incarnate in Christ in order to teach
all people the whole truth.

In this
period the Biblical stories began to be read allegorically, carrying a meaning
which needed to be unlocked from the text of scripture. Philosophical thinking
is the means by which the Greeks are to be led to Christ.

No longer is
the church living between past and future events which would culminate in the
imminent second coming and requiring righteousness on the part of Christ’s
followers. In this second paradigm Christianity is about holding correct
beliefs which can be definitively stated as doctrine which articulate eternal
truths, hence the development of the creeds.

Salvation is
all about the progress of the soul as it learns these doctrines and becomes
united with the immortal wisdom of God. It is the church which is the vehicle
for this progress: the conviction gradually grew that the church was the
Kingdom of God on earth and to be in the church was to be in the Kingdom.

In the first
paradigm the key boundary was between those who were within the saved community
and those who were not. Here the key boundary was between earth and Heaven. The
church was no longer the ark for the saved but the door for the whole
community. It is not enough merely to attend the liturgy: participation must
include an interior Theosis as the human and divine meet in communion. The
liturgy becomes central. In the liturgy, eternal truth radiates into the world and
Orthodox theologians refer to the “second liturgy” which takes place after the
service in the world, in the lives of those who have participated in it.

Mission is
part of the nature of the church. Outside
the context of the church, evangelism remains a humanism or a temporary
psychological enthusiasm. (David Bosch, Transforming Mission.)

This
paradigm significantly influenced the theology of Anglican Archbishop Michael
Ramsay in the 1960s and, with its emphasis on contemplation, stillness and
openness to the divine, can be found at the heart of the modern Taizé movement.
It is still the basic paradigm of the Orthodox Church today.

However it
does not see this realm as lying in the future and coming through change and
struggle. It therefore entails a certain acceptance of the social and political
status quo and a loss of the radical and transformative dimension of Jesus’
mission. The Orthodox Church has been attacked for this by some in the West.
The Anglican Church has often been described as the Conservative Party at
prayer. In their own political and social contexts, similar can be said of the
Orthodox Churches.

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About Me

Sir is a Curate, a former Doorman and former Religious Studies teacher. ("It's rubbish this Sir!"). He is a returner to Anglicanism following a period in the wilderness elsewhere. He sings with the Leeds Philharmonic Society - a choir with an international reputation. He would describe himself as being part of the Christian Left.